They Need You
by Metope
Summary: The screaming she was hearing hadn't been loud at first, it had been rather distant actually. However it had become louder and louder, she had found it somewhat annoying. And now, now it was everywhere, filling her ears, shutting everything else out. Based on the torture scene in the Lacey Promo! SwanQueen! Three Shot(?)
1. Chapter 1

**They need you**

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**A/N: I promised you a SwanQueen story so here it is!  
**

**This will be a Two Shot based on the torture-scene we saw in the promo of last week.**

**I rated this story T for I didn't write in detail about the torturing. HOWEVER**** if you feel like you find it difficult to read about these kind of things, than you probably shouldn't read this**

**This ****is**** a SwanQueen twoshot, however Emma won't be all to present in this first part...**

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**I**

The screaming she was hearing hadn't been loud at first, it had been rather distant actually. However it had become louder and louder, she had found it somewhat annoying. And now, now it was everywhere, filling her ears, shutting everything else out.

Loud and sharp cries. Cries of pain. And she knew this kind of pain. This was the kind of screaming you would hear when someone was in an agonizing _physical_ pain. She didn't like hearing this. It was why she had never allowed any of the people of her land to be subject to any activities that could potentially cause such screaming. Squeezing someone's heart hurt, that was true, but it was endurable. And the shock of the heart being outside the body was normally enough already to obtain the information she wanted. No need to inflict more pain than necessary..besides, mind games were much more fun anyways...as evil as she had been, even at her darkest point...she had never allowed anyone to be physically tortured under her rule.

She wished the screaming would stop, it was making it difficult for her to think. O...there...it stopped...now there were voices...two, maybe three or even four? No, three...she couldn't see them, it was dark, everything was dark...no that wasn't true, she was lying, what she saw was blackness, blackness with bright silver sparks that danced in front of her. It was quite intriguing actually.

She couldn't really hear what the voices were saying either, it seemed like they were having an argument. Suddenly she felt something cold, probably metal, touch her cheek. It made her realise that up until than she hadn't really felt anything apart from a weird tingling. Why was that, she wondered? But time to think about it she didn't get, the screaming started again, ruling out all thoughts...all thoughts but one: _Pain_. And in that moment she knew from whom the cries were coming: The screams were coming from herself. She saw nothing because she had her eyes closed, and the tingling...The tingling was no tingling, it was electricity, electricity that was running through her body, touching every nerve, hurting her so much that she had almost become numb to it, reducing it to..a strange tingling...

She heard herself scream the loudest she had done so far – or so she thought – while a large bolt of electricity jolted through her body, the silver sparks disappeared from her sight, everything was dark now, black...and then...then there was nothing. No pain. No screams. No tingling. Just...Nothing.

She didn't dare to open her eyes, afraid for what she would see, but curiosity eventually won from fear and so she carefully opened one eye: Nothing changed, everything was still dark and black, and so she opened the other: Black. Blackness all around her. But then...after lying like that for a while with her eyes open, the dark started to fade away, making place for a bright white light. She tried to sit up to see what was going on but felt she was unable to do so, her body was not responding. She tried again, and again, but nothing happened, she didn't really feel her body, she just felt pain, so much pain...

Eventually she managed to turn her head from left to right, and so she did, finding out that she was surrounded by whiteness. There was absolutely nothing here – wherever here was – but she.

She felt how panic was taking control of her mind...maybe she was dead. Could that be it? Would she be dead? Dear god, Henry! He would be all alone. Or no, that wasn't true, he had his new family now, he wasn't alone at all, he could miss her perfectly well, and he would have to, because she was dead. Yes, that was what she was going for: Death. She could be missed, she was replaced long ago by that blonde haired mess of a woman, and now...now she was dead. Would this be her punishment then, for all the evil things she had done in her past? To lay her for the rest of her life – or no wait, she was dead; so no life – To lay her forever, alone, unable to move, surrounded by whiteness?

Or maybe there were other people here too, she should try to call for someone. Yes, that would be best. She opened her mouth to call for help, but all that left her lips was a small whimper: She had lost her voice due to the screaming earlier today. Today...today? Was there still a today? She had no idea of time passing whatsoever. However, someone must have heard the pathetic excuse for a call for help she had produced, because she heard footsteps coming from her right, walking towards her, if her ears didn't betray her. To confirm her theory she turned her head slowly to the right – for everything still hurt –and saw two legs walking her way. She couldn't look up to see what face matched with these legs, but the black slack pants and black high heels gave her an impression of whom it might be, and also confirmed her theory that she was probably death. She heard more footsteps coming her way now, and it didn't take long before she could see two pair of dark brown boots approaching her as well.

The black slack pants had now reached her and she felt how arms were shoved under her body and slowly started to move her upper body up until she was in a sitting position. Still unable to hold herself up she leaned against the person that was helping her. She looked to her right to see who was helping her, although she actually already knew who it was by the familiar scent she smelled. She opened her mouth to say something but once again all she could produce was a soft whimper, which frustrated her, because it had cost her an incredible amount of energy to even produce that little a sound.

"Ssssh." She heard. "Don't try to speak, just listen to us, dear."

Us, us? O, right, the other two pair of boots she had seen earlier. She turned her head to the left and gasped when she saw who were standing there. Her attempt to reach for them, to get closer to them, ended in a weird spasm of her body.

"Don't try to move dear. It will be alright." She heard again and she felt a hand stroking her hair softly, _lovingly_. That was new. It proved to her that she had been truthful about her words just before she died. She really had been _enough_ to her.

The eldest of the two men now came closer. He raised his hands to touch her cheek and softly caressed it. "What have they done to you." He said with pain in his voice.

She tried to speak again, she wanted to tell him that she was sorry, she wanted to tell him how much she regretted what she had done to him. That she loved him. But the man put his finger against her lips, preventing her from trying.

"I know dearest. I know..." Was all he said, and in his eyes she could see he really did. In his eyes, she could see he had forgiven her for what she had done. She had paid enough already for that evil deed.

Her eyes wondered past him, searching for the other man who was still standing there. "We will leave you two alone now, dear." She heard _her_ voice again and she felt how she was gently lowered down. "Remember that we love you, and that we are very proud of you, you are strong, never forget that, you don't need magic to be your best self." She said to her as she leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek, _lovingly_. She managed to smile to her and in that moment everything that was between them, it was forgotten. They had forgiven each other. They _loved_ each other. And then she saw her walking away with the man, leaving her alone with the man she desperately wanted to come to her.

And finally he did, he walked towards her and he gently caressed her face when he reached her. She felt a tear falling down her face when she looked up in his eyes. Finally. She had thought she had lost him, _twice_, but here he was, _again_. He kissed her softly, making sure he wouldn't hurt her body because of the fragile state it was in.

"You have to go back, you know that right? It's no time for you to give up yet." He said and he gently brushed her hair out of her face.

She slowly moved her head from left to right in response.

"O but you do. You can't leave them behind. They need you."

They? Who were they? She could imagine him meaning Henry, but who else needed her in that little town?

"You know perfectly well who else I am talking about." He could read her mind?

"You have to stop fighting it. Let it in, let the _love_ in. Only that way you will find what you are looking for. Not through magic, not through force..." She didn't really understand what he was talking about now. He wanted her to give up magic? She was pretty sure that devilish woman had taken all her magic from her already, it was why she was here in the first place.

"I have to go now. We can't hold you hear any longer. Remember, you have to fight along with her against evil, not _against_ _her_."

Her? Her? What was he talking about? Was he talking about Miss Swan? About Emma?

"Just give in to the love you cherish for her, just like you did that once for me."

Love? She didn't love Emma. She loved him. _Him_! Not Emma...not that infuriating tall, blonde, funny, gorgeous...but _infuriating_ woman! Or did she?

"There you go." She saw him smile. "Now, keep in mind what I told you, what we all told you: We love you, we will be there for you, we'll be looking after you, we won't leave you. But the change has to come from yourself."

He pressed one last kiss to her forehead and then he walked away. She wanted him to come back, to get back to her, to explain more of this to her, she tried to call him. She opened her mouth, gathering all her strength to do so, and she called for the name of the person she loved, of the one she cared for:

"Emma!"

And then, everything turned black again.

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**So yeah, this is the end of part one, what do you think? I would love to read your reviews on this because normally I don't write angst like this xD!  
And no before any of you totally space out: No Regina is not dead-dead, I would never kill my favorite character, now would I ;)?**

**Please leave a review :)**

**x**

**Metope**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow thanks all of you very very much for all your kind reviews and the follows and favourites! I was very nervous and insecure about this story so I was really glad with all your great replies to this! I hope you'll all like this chapter just as much!**

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**II**

She could hear her heart beat in her ears as she made her way through the forest towards the cave. Henry had come to get her, talking about Regina being captured by Tamara and Greg. She had to save her. The sound of her beating heart was now and then replaced by bloodcurdling screams that only made her run faster and faster, David following closely. The moment the first scream had reached her ears, she had asked Snow to take Henry with her and wait for them to return at the edge of the forest – knowing that asking them to wait at home would be too much of them.

They now reached the cave, the screaming had stopped, she turned around to David putting her finger to her lips as a sign they had to be extra quiet now while they carefully entered the cave. They could hear voices.

"Haven't you extracted enough of her magic yet?" _Hook_, she thought.

"I have enough when I say it's enough." A woman's voice she recognized as Tamara.

"But you are killing her like this." The pirate countered.

She dared to set a few steps closer inside the cave in order to be able to see what was going on. She had to hold her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from screaming at what she saw.

"And what's it to you whether she dies or not?" She saw Greg walking towards Hook around the table Regina was lying on, she couldn't see her face but she did see small movements of her fingers that proved Regina at least wasn't dead – yet.

The pirate shrugged. "Don't know, it seems so unnecessary. I'd much rather see her being miserable when she discovers her magic is gone."

"Well, I don't. I want to see her dead." Greg said in a threatening voice, walking away from Hook again towards something that looked like a big radio. He seemed to turn up some sort of volume and then pressed a button. A high beep was audible and when Greg walked away from the device she and David saw how a large bolt of electricity was going from the device to Regina via two wires that were attached to both sides of her head. The moment the electricity reached Regina she saw the brunette's body starting to shake heavily as she tilted her head back and let out a bloodcurdling agonizing scream, her eyes shut tight. Emma couldn't look at what was happening in front of her eyes and before she even knew what she was doing she made her appearance known to the three villains by shooting Hook in his leg. She didn't even wait for him to fall to the ground, pointing her gun at Tamara as she saw David was taking care of Greg already.

"Turn it off!" She growled, but the woman just laughed at her.

"Now why would I do that Miss Swan? Or even, why would _you_ want that? Isn't she your..what do they call it again..ah yes...your _sworn_ enemy? Your _nemesis_? I'm surprised you don't want to join our little party here."

Emma shook her head. "Turn it off, now!" She yelled as she noticed Regina's body trembling more and more, the screaming had stopped, but she thought that was more due to the fact she had probably lost her voice.

"And why would I do that? I almost have taken all of her magic from her."

"She will die."

"That's what she deserves." Greg now interrupted. "She has to pay for what she did to my father."

"Turn it off now, or I _will_ shoot! This is your last chance."

Tamara just shook her head. "You don't have it in you."

"Watch me." She growled and she pulled the trigger, shooting the woman in her leg just as she had done to Hook who was watching the entire scene unfolding before his eyes while he was leaning against the wall of the cave, one hand holding the wound on his leg.

Greg now lunged forward trying to escape David, but the man was no match to the former prince and David had him chained in no time, doing the same to Tamara and Hook next.

Emma walked over to the device, trying to find the power button, however in her frustration and panic she couldn't find it so instead she just kicked the device off the table to the ground. The wires broke in the process and the electricity lost its connection to Regina's body, and the brunette's body immediately fell limb.

"Subtle." She heard David say but she didn't really register it as she made her way over to Regina.

"Shit." She cursed when she saw a little blood coming from the brunette's nose, she grabbed the woman's wrist to check for a pulse and sighed in relieve when she felt just the faintest sign of a beating heart.

"Call an ambulance and tell them to wait for us at the edge of the forest with Snow and Henry." Emma heard herself say while her eyes were focused on the woman on the table. She heard how David left the cave, probably because he had no access in the cave to call.

"Come on Regina, stay with me. We're almost out of here, don't leave me. You are the strongest woman I have ever known, you can do this." She whispered to the woman as she softly caressed the brunette's cheek.

"Emma..." She wasn't sure if she had heard it right, but the second time she actually saw a minimal movement of Regina's lips. "Emma.."

"Ssssh, I'm here. It's going to be okay." She said softly while she gently took the woman in her arms and lifted the limb body from the table.

"How sweet." She heard Tamara sneer.

Regina now opened her eyes at the woman's voice, Emma saw an immense amount of fear in the brown orbs. "It's going to be okay." She repeated. "They can't harm you anymore. I'm going to take you out of here and everything will be alright. Henry is safe, he's with Snow." She added when she saw how Regina's lips were trying to form his name.

Regina smiled in response and then leaned her head against Emma's shoulder closing her eyes as the blonde started to make her way out of the cave. There was no way Hook, Greg or Tamara would be able to get out of here anytime soon, David would be back to get them before they would be able to break free.

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"Mom! What is going on? What happened to her? Is she alive?" Henry ran towards her as soon as he saw Emma coming through the forest with Regina in her arms. The ambulance was already there.

"Henry. Your mother is hurt very badly, we have to get her to the hospital." David said in response.

"Mom. What did they do to you. She is bleeding from her nose." He cried and Emma quickly wiped the blood from Regina's face. The brunette opened her eyes again, a smile appeared on her face when she saw her son. "H..H-Henry..." She stammered in a voice that was so weak, so broken, it didn't sound like Regina anymore.

"Mom, I love you." Henry said tears streaming down his face as he leaned against Snow who was holding him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"My God, Emma, what happened to her."Emma heard her mother ask, but she just shook her head. "Got to get her to the hospital first."

The attendants had already rolled out a stretcher for Regina and Emma walked over to them with Regina still in her arms . She gently let Regina down to the stretcher and pushed her shoulder a little to help her lie down. However the moment Regina felt Emma push her eyes widened in fear and she started to shake her head violently, trying to shrug the hand off of her, resisting Emma's attempt to lie her down.

"Noooo.." She whimpered.

"Regina, we have to take you to the hospital, you have to lie down now so they can take care of you."

But the brunette shook her head again. "Noo, noo, noo." She said repeatedly and when an attendant came to help Emma she started to lash out in panic.

"Mom...?" Henry asked in a scared voice.

"Snow, David, take him away from here, we will meet you in the hospital." Emma said and then she turned back to Regina again. "Regina, you have to calm down and lie down, you are only making things worse for yourself like this."

The attendants now tried to hold her down with more force and Regina started to cry, trying to escape the hands that were holding her down. "Don't hurt me!" She cried. "No..no lying down...no...the...pain...pain...not lying down...then the pain comes...no...no...NOO!" She screamed terrified.

"Sheriff Swan can you hold her down. We're going to give her something to calm her down."

Emma nodded as she tried to prevent Regina from moving with all her strength as she saw how one of the men injected a hypo with some drug in Regina's arm. She felt the brunette's body react almost immediately, her resistance stopped and Emma looked up to see Regina stare up in the sky with a blank look on her face. "Clouds..." She whispered.

"What did you give her?"

"Just something to calm her down, so we can take her to the hospital safely without her injuring herself more. She'll be a little delirious now, don't pay too much attention to what she says."

Emma nodded.

"You want to come with us and stay with her?"

"Yes." She replied and she entered the ambulance together with Regina, holding the brunette's hand who was now staring at Emma with a slightly goofy smile on her face.

"Hold on Regina. You'll make it through this." Emma whispered. A single tear escaped from her eye as she looked upon the brunette who seemed so small lying there while the paramedics were taking care of her... so small and vulnerable.

Regina just smiled at her. "I love you Emma..." She said in a small voice.

Emma gasped and let go of Regina's hand in shock. The moment she did the monitor the paramedics had put Regina on started to beep violently and Emma saw how Regina's eyes turned white and her body started to shake heavily.

"What's happening?"Emma yelled while she backed away, letting the paramedics get to Regina as the ambulance turned up its speed to get to the hospital even faster.

Tears were now freely falling down the blonde's face. "Come on Regina." She sobbed. "You can't leave us! We need you!"

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**Ok so maybe this is going to be a three shot because it's stupid to end this story here...unless you all don't think so and don't want a third chapter? Let me know in a review :D!**

**x**

**Metope**


	3. Chapter 3

**They need you III**

**Emma's POV**

She looked at the dark brown hair that was spread out on the pillow like a fan. She looked at the toned skin of her arms that were lying next to her body. She looked at her closed eyes with the dark lashes. She looked at the plump lips that were fairly red even without the dark red lipstick that usually graced them. She looked at the scar that was induced by one of her mother's lessons, so she had told her. She looked at the steady rising of her chest...a sign that her heart was beating...and thank god it did that. Because for a moment she had thought the brunette's heart had stopped working and she had never been more scared than in that moment. Even now, now she knew everything was going to be alright, only the thought of what could have happened could give her a panic attack. They needed her, Henry needed her, _she_ needed her. She hadn't wanted to admit it at first, but in that moment she had realised it, she couldn't live without the brunette anymore, she didn't _want_ to live without her. She didn't know when or how it had happened, but it had. And the thing was...even though what the former queen had said to her was due to the morphine, it meant Regina cared about her too, and that made her happy, that made her very happy.

She looked over to the bed again. She looked so small, so vulnerable between those white sheets. Nothing like the intimidating mayor she had met when she had first arrived here. But even though she didn't have any make-up on, and she was wearing a random night gown Henry had brought for her from home, she still looked her regal self. She was still beautiful.

"Emma? Are you coming with us? We need to interrogate Tamara and Greg at the station." She looked up to see Snow standing in the door way.

She nodded and got up from the highly uncomfortable chair she had been sitting on. "You think she will be okay?"

Snow nodded. "The doctor said that when she wakes up, she should be fine."

She sighed. "Physically yes...that's not what I'm worried about." She felt Snow's hand on her shoulder.

"She will get through this, Emma. Just wait until she wakes up before you start worrying about things that might not even happen."

"You didn't really see her panic back there. She started to scream hysterically when you and David were gone with Henry. Lashing out to us. Screaming that she didn't want to lie down because then the pain would come."

"But that was all right after you saved her. She'll wake up in a safe place now, maybe it will be different now. We will see. Now come, your father is waiting."

**Regina's POV**

When she opened her eyes she stared up to a bright white ceiling, so bright it hurt her eyes a little. She turned her head a little to see where she was, she quickly recognized the room she was in as the hospital. She tried to remember how she got here and slowly her memories came back. Emma crying and yelling at her to not give up, paramedics running around her...Henry crying that he was sorry with the two idiots behind him with worried faces. She in Emma's arms while the blonde was carrying her through the woods...She had to close her eyes to prevent a massive upcoming head ache from worsening. Remembering everything was difficult. She then remembered Daniel, and her mother and daddy. How her mother had hold her close to her, with so much love. How she had leaned against her when she couldn't move her body...thinking about that made her realise that she was able to move again now. She wiggled her toes, moved her legs a little, it cost her a lot of energy and so she let her body relax again. She still wasn't sure why she was lying here...what had happened?

She concentrated on the sounds around her and hurt a steady beeping coming from her right. When she turned her head she saw a machine standing she followed the line going from the machine with her eyes and realised it was connected to her body. She found another one going to an intravenous drip standing next to the machine. The machine...wires...she shut her eyes when a flash of Greg hovering above her entered her mind, and then another one of this woman..Tamara...a machine...a machine and wires, wires to her temples, to her fingers...and pain...electricity, and pain so much pain...

Her breathing quickened...now she was in a bed again, and there were wires and machines again...and she was alone...and her body felt weak...and...she had to get out of here...get up from the bed...she couldn't be lying...she would be a too easy target...she had to get rid of those machines...those machines that could control her. She managed to sit up and she pulled the wires to the beeping machine from her chest and slowly she pulled the needle of the drip out of her arm with a hiss.

Carefully she placed her feet to the ground and put her weight on them. She stumbled forwards but caught herself using the chair that was standing in her room. Turning around she looked over to the door, it was closed, the blinds of the window next to it were closed as well. Foot by foot she made her way towards the door, grateful when she reached it, she paused to gain enough strength and then opened the door. People were walking by but no one seemed to really notice her, nurses were too busy to get to their patients to pay attention. Supporting herself by the wall she started to make her way to the exit, she had to go to her family mausoleum, to her mother, she needed to be with her mother and her father...and Daniel...

She was halfway when she heard a man's voice behind her. "Up and about dearie?"

Slowly she turned around to look in the eyes of her former teacher. She saw some sort of shock flash in his eyes when he looked at her. "My, my, they got you bad, didn't they?" He asked, his voice was different now, she almost thought she heard concern in it. "Where are you going?" He asked when she didn't answer.

She wanted to tell him about the machines, that she didn't feel safe here, that she needed to be safe, away from the pain, but all that she managed to say was hardly more than a whisper. "Safe...pain...scared..."

She saw the man in front her blink, he had never seen his protégé this vulnerable, this hurt, this confused... "Come,"He said and he held out his hand to her. "I think it is best if you go back to your room. I'll let the doctor now you are awake. You are safe her Regina."

She shook her head. "No...machines..." She shook her head in annoyance because she didn't seem able to form a coherent sentence, she tried again. "No, I-I-I nnneeed to go...no machines."

He saw the frustration in her eyes. "It is okay. Don't push yourself too hard."

She didn't understand him, why was he so kind to her? "W-why...you so nice." She said in a raspy voice.

He send her an apologetic smile. "We may have our differences dearie, and I can't say I have forgiven you for what you have done to my Belle. But despite all that..._no one_ deserves to be tortured in the way you were. Now come, we get you back to bed." He held his hand out to her again as she was still leaning against the hospital wall.

"No." She said more firmly now.

"What is going on here mister Gold?" Doctor Whale now came walking towards them. "Regina, " He said surprised. "You're awake...and out of bed..."

Gold nodded. "Yes, I saw her walking, and was trying to get her back to her room. She seems to be having some trouble speaking."

Whale nodded. "Let's get you back to your room Regina, you have to stay in bed, you're too weak to be up already."

Once again she shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. She felt cornered by the two men standing in front of her. She wouldn't be able to run away and magic...she didn't have magic... "No."

Whale laughed a little nervously. "Well come on Regina. You're a smart woman, you know that you are in no state to leave the hospital. This is not the moment to argue."

She didn't move, nor reply while she just kept staring at them, paralyzed with fear. They were after her too, they had conspired against her once, they would do it again.

"Come on Regina, just go back already." Gold spoke and he put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged the hand off of her shoulder as she set a few steps back in fear. It caused her to bump into Whale and a whimper of fear left her mouth while she backed away from him. Her wobbly legs were unable to hold her up any longer and the two men watched in a mixture of shock and fascination as the woman they knew as the evil queen acted so incredibly scared and confused and fell to the ground.

Whale was the first to recover as he bend down to help Regina up again. However the moment he reached for her she tried to back away from him again, burying herself in the wall if that had been possible, wildly shaking her head. "Regina, it is okay, don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you." He said, realising the woman was beyond scared. "I just want to help you to get you back to your bed."

"Nooo." The woman cried, she curled herself up in a foetal position, her hand over her head. "Don't hurt me...please don't hurt me."

Before Whale could say anything else he was interrupted by a small children's voice. "Mom? What's going on? What are you doing to my mom?"

She looked up to see her son standing a few steps away from her with Snow, David and_ Emma_.

"Emma." She whispered, tears still falling down her face. "Emma." She repeated more forcefully and she tried to pull herself up using her arms.

Emma kneeled down next to Regina within seconds after the brunette had whispered her name. Regina immediately clung to the blonde. "Don't let them take me." She cried. "I don't want to lie down, I don't want to be in the bed...I don't want machines, I don't want to be alone. Don't leave me alone."

Emma nodded while she softly ran a hand through the brunette's hair. "It is okay, Regina. I won't leave you. I'm here to take care of you, to protect you. We won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you." Regina sobbed and Emma let out a sad sigh while she took the crying woman in her arms.

"She cannot leave the hospital yet. We need to run tests, we should probably call doctor Hopper as well." Whale now said.

Emma immediately felt how Regina tensed in her arms. "I'm not...lying down..." She sobbed.

"Sssh, it is okay. I understand." Emma soothed. "But Regina, doctor Whale is right, you are too weak to leave the hospital yet."

The brunette shook her head and Emma took her head in her hands to calm her down. "Hey, look at me. Would you lie in the bed if I would make sure there weren't any machines and...and...I would be there with you? Next to you? So you won't be alone?"

The brunette was quite for a while. "On the bed...with the machines...the pain came..." She finally whispered.

Emma sent her a sweet smile. "That won't happen now, Regina. I'll protect you. Okay?"

Slowly the brunette nodded and Emma smiled again. "I'm very proud of you." She whispered and then took the brunette in her arms and walked with her to her hospital room, completely ignoring her parents, Whale and Gold who were watching the entire scene in shock, and Henry who had a big grin on his face, seeing how his mother's finally seemed to give in to the feelings they obviously had for each other.

* * *

Regina woke up by blonde hair tickling her nose. When she lifted her head that had been resting on the blonde's chest, while Emma had her arms wrapped around her, she saw how the saviour was still asleep. Gently she brushed the blonde hair out of her face while continuing to look at her. _Love again, let yourself love, _Daniel had said. She hadn't understand it at first, but now, when she looked upon the blonde's sleeping face, she knew what he had meant. Just as she knew the blonde felt the same way...she had remembered how she had told Emma she loved her in the ambulance, and despite the shocked reaction Emma had given her, she hadn't run. She was still here, and considering it was Emma Swan we were talking about that meant a lot.

She got pulled out of her thoughts by a soft "Hey." Green eyes staring at her.

"Hey." Regina replied with a smile.

"You feeling better?"

The brunette nodded. "Thank you for staying with me."

She felt Emma shrug. "You needed me." It was silent for a while. "You scared the hell out of me Regina." Emma then said.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm so much trouble."

"You are not." Emma replied firmly. "You just scared me. I thought we were going to lose you."

"And that would have been a bad thing? Losing the Evil Queen?"

"Don't say that. You are not that woman anymore. And of course it would be bad thing. We can't miss you Regina. We _need_ you. I need you."

"You do?"

"Yes of course. Who else do I have to have my weekly dose of fighting with?"Emma joked and Regina couldn't help but smirk as well.

"Yes, if you look at it that way, I guess I have become a great necessity in your life indeed, Miss Swan."

"O we're back to Miss Swan again?"

Regina shook her head. "No, _Emma_. Old habits die hard I guess."

"Greg and Tamara have been dealt with." Emma then said and she felt Regina tense a little. "Gold has erased their memories and sent them as far away as possible."

Regina nodded. "They took my magic...all of it." She then said and she heard Emma gasp.

"Really? They succeeded in that? Isn't there a way to get it back or something?"

Regina shrugged. "I don't know. But to be honest...I don't really care. I don't want my magic back."

"You don't?"

"No. I feel much more at ease now. I don't have that dark magic pulling at me constantly. I feel safer this way, it's better this way for everyone. For Henry.."

They grew quite again while Emma softly caressed Regina's arm, while the brunette's head was still on her chest.

"So.." Emma then said. "You love me hm..?"

Regina laughed. "That's what I told you in the ambulance, right?" Emma nodded with a frown. She had hoped to tease the brunette with this, assuming she didn't remember. "You still think about it that way?...Without the morphine I mean?" The blonde asked.

"That depends. Do you want me to feel that way?" Emma could hear a certain vulnerability in that question.

"I want you to feel the way that you want to feel..that you _feel_...And I want you to know that..if you really feel that for me, that would make me really happy. Because I already said it...I need you Regina, I can't and I don't want live without you."

Regina didn't reply for a while but then moved her head so she could look at Emma again. "Well in that case...I love you very much Emma." The smile that appeared on Emma's face at that statement was all Regina had to know about how the blonde felt about her.

"I'm going to kiss you now." Emma whispered as she moved her head towards Regina.

"I would be insulted if you didn't." Regina managed to say just before their lips met. Finally. They kissed...and when Henry, Snow and David entered Regina's room a little later they found the two women in a tight hug, still kissing. And despite all their differences, their arguments and their troubled pasts all could see that this...this was meant to be..the saviour and the queen...that was true love..

**The end**

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**Thank you all very very much for following this story! I hope you liked this last chapter :D! Please let me know, and if you have any (concrete) ideas for a new story...let me know ****!**

**For those who also follow my story "Where do I belong"..I'm planning on updating that one either tomorrow or the day after. "Nothing can part us" will be updated after that :)!**

**x**

**Metope**


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